Violence at home troubles Calasan

February 27, 2008|CURT RALLO Tribune Staff Writer

When television stations flashed pictures of flames consuming the U.S. Embassy in Serbia, Purdue men's basketball player Nemanja Calasan cringed. Calasan, who is from Srbinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, is no stranger to deadly conflict in the Balkans. As a child, he and his family were Serbians who were living in Croatia, and they were fortunate to escape after the atrocities began there. Now, violence has erupted again as Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. "In Serbia, it's a bad situation right now, with the Kosovo independency, but everything about my family is OK for right now," said Calasan, a 6-foot-9 junior. "I had weird feelings about seeing the U.S. Embassy burn. I couldn't believe that my people were doing things like that. "I'm here, and all the Serbs in the United States, seeing our people burning the Embassy was such a strange feeling," Calasan said. "The Balkans and the eastern part of Europe, it's one of the toughest places in the world. There is war going on so much, many centuries ago, now in the 1990's and the 2000's. It's sad." Calasan explained that he has been extremely worried for his family's safety. "My family lives just 40 minutes from the Embassy," Calasan said. "Sometimes I stress too much thinking how are they, my sister, my brother, my friends. But I called over there and they told me everything is good. The stress goes down a little bit, but it's always in the back of my mind that they are in so much trouble." No freshman wallResume numbersOne and doneGuns loaded